Arthur george evans



(No Model.)

A. G. EVANS.

BEARING FOR SIGNAL AND SWITCH RODS.

No. 483,548. Patented Oct. 4, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR GEORGE EVANS, OF WESTMINSTER, ENGLAND.

BEARING FOR SIGNAL AND SWITCH RODS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 483,548, dated October4, 1892. Application filed June 20, 1892. Serial No. 437,394. (Nomodel.) Patented in England July 31. 1891, No. 13,004-

To all whom, it may concern:

life it known that I, ARTHUR GEORGE EVANS, c1v1l engineer, a subject ofthe Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 116 Palace Chambers,Bridge Street, Westminster, in the county of Middlesex, England, haveinyented certain new and useful Improvements in the Supports or Bearingsfor the Operat' lug Rods of Signals and Switches and other RailwayAppliances; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Letters Patent for this invention have been obtained in England, No.13,004, dated July 31, 1891.

This invention has for its object an improvement in the supportingguides or rollers upon which the rods employed for communicatingmovements to railway signaling apparatus rest and move. These rods havefrequently to move objects, such as a pair of switch-points, at aconsiderable distance from the operatinglever. In cases where theswitch-points are both worked and locked by one rod it is especiallydesirable that friction should be reduced to a minimum.

With my invention I provide, as ordinarily, two rollers, a lower one andan upper one, the rod operating between the two normally resting on thelower one. I arrange that both the rollers have their axes projecting oneach side, and recesses or shelves are provided for the axes of therollers to revolve upon, or slots in the side of the casting forming theframe of the roller are provided, the axes of the rollers revolvingsimilarly in these slots. Assuming that the rod is being supported bythe bottom roller, when the rod is pulled the pulley revolves on itsaxis along the path on the lower side of the recess, shelf, or slottedhole; but in the return movement when a push is given to the rod itfrequently happens that the rod buckles and pressure is put upon the toproller. In order to provide that this roller should give the sameassistance to the return motion as the lower one does in the initialmovement, I provide that this roller also moves longitudinally as wellas revolves, the two rollers being alike in the fact that when the rodis pushed or pulled or when the rod presses upon either of them thepulleys are caused to revolve and their axes roll along their respectivepaths.

I am aware that arrangements have been provided whereby the lower rolleris made with the projecting axis and the said axis rolls along the pathsor shelves; but, as far as I am aware, my invention is novel withreference to the top roller. I also provide that where two or morerollers are required in a set the standards or side frames forming suchsets may be built up suitably, so that they may be added to or takenaway from without disturbing the other rollers in the set, and the wholeis so arranged that the bases of the said rollers interlock with eachother and are secured to the wooden or iron frames, to which the rollersare usually fixed by coach screws or bolts.

It will be seen on reference to the drawings that I have abolished theseveral bolts or rods upon which the rollers revolve. I am aware that incertain cases the bolt or rod in connection with the lower roller hasbeen abolished; but I am not aware that this has ever been done asregards the top roller.

It is obvious that my invention is applicable to the various sections ofpoin't-rodf0r instance, either the tubular-section or thechannel-section point-rod or any other form that may be desired.

In order that my invention may be better understood and more readilycarried into effect, I will proceed to describe the drawings hereuntoannexed.

The same letters refer to the same parts in the several figures.

Figure 1 is a side view of my roller, showing the side standard with therollers in position and the operating-rod between them. Fig. 2 is afront view,partlyin section. The sectional portion of this figure is asection of one of the standards. Fig. 3 is a side view of the bottomroller. Fig. 4 is a front view of the bottom roller. Fig. 5 is a sideview of the top roller. Fig. 6 is a front View of the top roller. Fig. 7is a plan of the standards with the rollers removed, showing the way inwhich they are built up. Fig. 8 is a front view of my roller arrangedfor the channeliron section of point-rod instead of tubular section, asFigs. 1 to 7 show. Fig. 9 isa side invention.

View of the top roller of Fig. 8. Fig. 10 is a side view of the bottomroller of Fig. 8.

ais thebottom roller for tubular point-rod, Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive.

a, is the axis or pivot or spindle on each side of the bottom roller a.

a and a are the side projections of the bottom roller a, which reducethe friction, keeping the larger sides of the roller from touching theinsides of the standards.

b is the top roller.

b (on each side) is the spindle of the top roller. V V

i b and b are the side projections of the top roller, provided forlessening friction, keeping the remaining portionof the rollerfromtouching the insides of the standards.

0 is the elongated path or slot in the side of; the standard providedfor the bottom roller, and d is the similar elongated path or slotprovided for the top roller.

c is the lower part of this slot, upon which the spindle a of the bottomroller revolves.

While describing the slot for the bottom roller it will be understoodthat the upper part of this slot 0 is of no value or use in connectionwith the bottom roller, as the latter is never supposed to touch the toppart, the bottom part being the one upon which the roller revolves.Itisobvious thatthis could be modified, as not being in any wayessential to my If desirable, the top side of this elongated slot 0 maybe made of a circular form, approximating to the middle of the rib e,and I therefore lay no claim whatever to the upper part of this slot orto the fact of the slot being inclosed at its upper side. With any formof roller there must be a termination to the travel of the roller forthesake of convenience and economy, and for this termination ends orstops must be provided. I therefore lay no claim to the fact of thisslot being provided with ends, as it is obvious no practicableroller-standard could be designed without them or their equivalents.

d is the lower path of the upper slot d. In connection with this it maybe observed that this part is only of use for preventing the roller fromfalling and bearing upon the top of the rod, which, however, would notbe detrimental to the action of my invention; but it will be understoodthat when the rod is put into compression the spindle b of the roller 1)may take its bearing upon the upper path d of the slot (1.

f is the tubular point-rod which is supported upon the bottom roller (1.

g are the holes, Fig. 7, by which the standards are bolted to theirsupports, either wood or iron.

7?. 'h2 are the beveled ends of the feet'of the standard which fit intoa corresponding beveled recess k k in the next standard. 7

l is the end of the standard which is square and which is provided forenabling the standards to fit into each other more accurately.

m is the bottom roller, Fig. 8, designed for the support of channel-ironpoint-rod. The spindles and recesses or slots and the way 1n which thespindles operate in the recesses or slots are the same as inFigs. 1.to7. if

n is the channel-iron rod, which is supported: upon the roller 0 is thetop roller, Fig. 8, foriuse with chan ncl-iron point-rod. Again, thespindles and elongated slots through which this roller is operated arethe same'as in Figs. 1 to 7, illustrated with regard to the tubularpoint-rode. In the rollers 'm and o slight projections are provided fora'similar purpose to those hereinbefore referred to (a and a and b and bin the rollers for tubular point-rod, Figs. 1 to 7. A brief descriptionof the working of my invention is as follows, (the same of course refersto either channel or tubular point-rodz) When the rod is operated andthe'rod is in tension-that is to say, when there is a pull given to therod by the operating-lever, or it may be occasionally. that a push isgiven to the redat all events when the top roller is not brought intooperation and the rod does not bear upon it, the rod revolves. the lowerroller upon its axis, the said axis travels along the lower paths 0 of;the elongated slots 0, and. if the travel of the rod should be longerthan the travel allowed for by the length of the paths 0' when theroller arrives at the end of its travel it is simply revolved as a fixedroller, similar to the ordinary rollers. Again, when the rod is put intocompression to the extent that the rod buckles and bears upon the toproller, thereby pressing the spindle b upon the upper path (1 of theslot 01, a similar action takes place, the roller 1) is revolved on itsaxis 12' until it gets to the end of its travel,

and if there is still required a further 'movement of the rod when thesaid roller has arrived at the end of its travel the roller is simplyrevolved on its axis 73' like a fixed roller, which has no elongatedpaths, as is now the usual custom.

Having fully described my invention, I wish it to be distinctlyunderstood that I do not claim as novel a bottom traveling roller;neither do I claim the inclosed elongated slots in which the bottomroller operates; neither do I claim the particular shape of theelevation of the standard; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In supportinguides for rods employed in railway signaling, anelongated path or slot upon which a movable top roller is free to travelto and fro, the said roller having movement communicated to it bypoint-rod used or employed for communicating to-andfro movements onrailways in connection with railway signaling apparatus, the said rolleror pulley having spindles or pivots of relatively-smaller diameter,substantially as hereinbefore described.

2. In supporting-guides for rods employed in railway signaling apparatuscommunica ing to-and-fro movements on railways, the

combination, with a bottom roller or pulley provided with spindles orpivots of relativelysmaller diameter arranged to roll either on arecessed shelf on the side cheek of a standard or along the lower sideof an elongated slot provided in such standard, of a top roller alsoprovided with spindles or pivots of relativelysmaller diameter arrangedto roll on a recessed shelf on the side cheek of a standard or upon theupper or lower side or path of an elongated slot provided in thestandard, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth, and asillustrated upon the drawings.

3. The combination, with a longitudinal rod,

